Pride and Dignity in A Raisin in the Sun
"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry follows a black family's struggle to see their dreams through to fruition. These dreams, and the struggles necessary to attain them, are the focus of the play.
As the play begins a husband, Walter, and wife, Ruth, are seen having a fight over Walter's dream to become a 'mover and shaker' in the business world by using an insurance check as a down payment on a business venture. Walter tells his wife that, "I'm trying to talk to you 'bout myself and all you can say is eat them eggs and go to work", which is the first sign of Walter's recurring feelings that if someone in the family would just listen to him and put forth their trust his dreams would come to fruition. Following this argument Walter goes off to his job as a chauffeur which is the job he so longs to be done away with because he would rather "be Mr. Arnold[his employer] than be his chauffeur.
This episode illustrates a major conflict throughout the story. As Walter dreams bigger and bigger he seems to leave the 'smaller' things such as his family behind. This movement away from the family is against the furtherance of the values and morals of the family. While his father would have been happy simply working and caring for his family, Walter is more concerned with becoming a 'mover and shaker' without thinking about the resulting consequences for his family.
Later in the morning Beneatha, the younger sister of Walter, initiates a conflict by speaking in an unacceptable manner about God – seemingly rejecting values that have been taught to her since childhood.
This event shows yet another time in which a family member threatens to ruin the inherent stability of the family structure by trying to build in a manner which is completely incompatible with the rest of the structure. Beneatha, although believing to be bettering herself is leaving an important part of herself and her heritage behind. Beneatha's speech about God is her attempt to show her independence and uniqueness in the world, but when she asserts her self in an area that is extremely sensitive to the family heritage and structure, she threatens to wean herself from the only guaranteed support group in life, the family. Once again, as with Walter, Benetha realizes later in the story that it is the furtherance of long-standing family values and morals which give the foundation upon which to build a wonderful life.
Mama talks to Walter about her fears of the family falling apart. This is the reason she bought the house and she wants him to understand. Walter doesn't understand and gets angry. "What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talking 'bout your children's dreams..." Walter is so obsessive over money that he yells at his mom for not giving him all of it. He doesn't know that what his mom is doing is for the family. He thinks that having money will make the family happy, when in reality the family doesn't need anymore than what they have to be happy.
The histories of America were used to attest to each work's ideas. Abraham Lincoln examined the founding father's works for democracy. He also wrote about the soldiers in the Battle of Gettysburg and their fight. These were the ones, as Lincoln said in the address, who "here gave their lives that the nation might live". When Allen Ginsberg wrote "America", he was speaking to people who had seemed to have lost all good intentions for America. "He had mulled over a way to write a long prophetic poem that addressed what he perceived to be the spiritual and cultural decline of America" (Schumacher 218). Historical events Ginsberg cited directly reflect the society which influenced him. They also show the bitter twist the speech's words "here gave their lives that the nation might live" to those Americans involved in these events. Sacco and Vanzetti, whom Ginsberg mentioned powerfully in the poem, are good examples of this. Sacco and Vanzetti were tried and convicted for killing two men and stealing 15,000 dollars...
When Socrates was sentenced to death, his friend Crito offers to help him escape, but he refuse to escape. He explains to Crito that if he were to escape he would be running away his whole life. He would stay at Athens and comply with the sentence as set by Athens law and die for his cause. Another reason that he gave Crito for not escaping was that he was already death alive and that he was too old to be running away .
When Walter loses his "sister's school money," the consequences are widespread and Beneatha sees that dream diminish before her eyes. She sees her slipping through Walter's fingers and finds her lifelong goals changing. From the days of her childhood, she has longed "to be a doctor" and "fix up the sick." While her family and friends do not understand Beneatha's dream, she continues longing for the education she needs to create a successful life she desires rather than one where she is waiting "to get married.
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
Because Maratta was a girl, there were complications with her liking hockey. She explored the fact that some people disliked the idea of girls being involved in sports. She understood that some thought that sports were meant for men, and that women should not be involved...
Walter is Mama’s oldest son. His dreams are to be wealth but at the same time wanting to provide for his family. His own personal dream is to open liquor store with his money he receives from Mama.
...s of accountability all speak to what is expected of a nurse when it comes to their responsibility for actions taken. Not only must the nurse admit to wrong doing, but they must take responsibility for their wrong doing. This responsibility could involve many different forms from lawsuits to write-ups to terminations. What is important about this section, is that it specifies that the nurse must own up to their actions and take responsibility for what they have done, even if they did not mean to hurt anyone. Being accountable for their action, can be hard to do. Having a consequence put onto you when there could be a million reasons why the action happened to begin with, is difficult to swallow. This dilemma goes back to ethics. Realizing morally, that you must be accountable and take responsibility for the action, no matter the circumstance surrounding it.
The term, progress, is synonymous with phrases that denote moving forward, growth, and advancement. It seems unorthodox then that Ronald Wright asserts the world has fallen into a progress trap, a paradox to how progress is typically portrayed as it contradicts the conventional way life is viewed: as being a natural progression from the outdated and tried towards the new and improved. Wright posits that it is the world’s relentless creation of innovative methods that ironically contributes to the progress trap rather than to progress itself, the intended objective. Wright’s coinage of the term “progress trap” refers to the phenomenon of innovations that create new complications that are typically left without resolve which exacerbate current conditions; unwittingly then, matters would have been much better if the innovation had never been implemented. In his book, “A Short History of Progress,” he alludes to history by citing examples of past civilizations that collapsed after prospering, and ones that had longevity because they avoided the perilous progress trap. Wright recommends that societies of today should use indispensable resources, such as history, to learn and apply the reasons as to why certain societies succeeded, while also avoiding falling into the pitfalls of those that failed, the ones that experienced the progress trap. This can easily be interrelated with Godrej’s concept of “the overheated engine of human progress,” since humans for centuries have been risking environmental degradation for progress through ceaseless industrialization and manufacturing. This exchange is doomed to prevent improved progress and will lead to society’s inevitable decline since it is unquestionable that in the unforeseeable future, cl...
In Allen Ginsberg’s poem “America”, he tells readers how much hate he has towards America. He starts his poem off by setting an enervated mood for the poem and addresses America by saying, “America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing” (Line1). At the beginning Ginsberg expresses how worthless he is and because of how everything is going in America, he can never be in the right state of mind. He then changed the mood to being angry, when he starts asking questions about the war. …Throughout the poem Ginsberg rambles about America abandoning its values and it not being what it promised to be. The author criticizes America when he asks, “When will you be worthy of your million
In the first scene of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, Walter attempts to become “the man” he wants, not the one his family needs. Walter emphasizes his masculinity, through his words, by repeatedly demanding people wake up early. “Now what is that boy…he just going to have to get up earlier. I can’t be late on the account of him” (Hansberry 1783). However, this attempt backfires as his Ruth confidently stands up against him and assertively defends their son from Walter’s accusations. “Oh no he ain’t going to be getting up no earlier…it’s not his fault he can’t get to bed [it’s you and your friends fault] (Hansberry 1783). Walter is left feeling emasculated by his wife, so he redirects his demands to a seemingly easier target –his sister. But instead
This will only happen if his family will allow him to roll with the big check they are about to receive. Walter becomes infatuated with the idea of being a successful businessman because he wants to care for his family and be consider as a man. However, that idea of becoming a successful businessman falls flat. When Walter says, “you wouldn't understand yet, son, but your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that is going to change our lives [ . . . ] man ... I trusted you . . . man, I put my life in your hands . . . man . . . that money is made out of my father’s flesh” (Hansberry 326, 340). By Walter saying this proves that he failed to achieve what he had planned. Walter was very arrogant with the idea of becoming a successful businessman without any background knowledge. When Walter says, “going to change our lives” proves that Walter believes he is able to achieve his goal if he follows what people who do not have his best interest advice. By allowing that to happen Walter lost all of the money, which he failed to take care of and now he will not become that successful businessman that he had planned. Walter and Willy show how easy it is to become obsessive over and idea that they both knew they will never achieve. Aside from covering the truth from their families, they fail their families by pretending to be someone they are
One of the many problems with factory farms is that it negatively effects surrounding populations, as illustrated in North Carolina, where concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also known as factory farms, are in close proximity with cities. These factory farms use the waste from pigs and spray them on crops. The waste from these animals “can contain pathogens, heavy metals, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” The chemicals from the waste of these animals then affects the surrounding population and “a growing body of research suggests these emissions may contribute not only to mucosal irritation and respiratory ailments in nearby residents but also decreased quality of life, mental stress and elevated blood pressure.” In addition to this, the smell from the waste is at...
One must first acknowledge the existence of different kinds of progress in order to understand the connection between progress and a sustainable future. Human progress is now classified as either material progress or moral progress. Material progress involves inventing things without a complete rationalization. This leads to a progress trap. Progress traps involves human societies pursuing progress and inadvertently introducing problems they do not have the resources or will to solve for fear of short-term losses in status, stability or quality of life. Our society is experiencing this phenomenon right now. Our society foolishly believes that resources are infinite and neglects the problems that our overconsumption creates. Moral progress involves inventing things for a reason. There is some kind of rationalization involved in moral progress. S...
During the twentieth century, the world began to develop the idea of economic trade. Beginning in the 1960’s, the four Asian Tigers, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, demonstrated that a global economy, which was fueled by an import and export system with other countries, allowed the economy of the home country itself to flourish. Th...